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kingraph

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Posts posted by kingraph

  2. NHL 94 gen offline season

    in Welcome Rookies

    Posted

    Well, if you are skilled in building a database driven website like nhl94online.com, and wanted to play on an emulator, you could create your own season, take save states and load them into the site.  That way it will spit out stats like we do for our leagues.  

    The only issue would be simulating the rest of the games and stats.  

     

    And just like others have done, I did the pencil/paper stats for NHL'93 when I was younger, as well as Mario Lemieux Hockey.  

  5. CDL 05 "A" Playoffs Vegas Odds

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    CDL 05 "A" Vegas Odds
     
    1. AngryJay93 (SJS) - 900
    8. Scribe99 (LAK) + 900

    Season Series (3-1 SJS)

    @angryjay93, a.k.a CalmGreg, has put together the best regular season record in the CDL A league history in these first 5 seasons, going 35-9 (.795), averaging 5.29 GF/G and a GA/G of 2.81, for a GDIF of 2.48!  That also happens to be 2nd all-time best GDIF, only eclipsed by AJ's second season (2.57), in which he went on to win a CDL title.  The Sharks forward lineup is nothing fancy - a mix of Ricci | Shanahan | Savard, each ending up with over 100 points this season.  If the forwards are a weak spot, I can't really tell! 

    On the backend, the defense is one of the most formidable ever put together with Ray Bourque and Chris Chelios.  They are responsible for keeping those shots against to a minimum (#1 rank again) while contributing a fairly decent amount to that offense.  If there's a true weak point in the Sharks roster it's Kelly Hrudey.  AJ's stifling defense means Hrudey doesn't usually face a lot of shots, which is how he's able to keep Hrudey at a 2.78 GAA and .699 save %.  

    The Sharks first round matchup will be @Scribe99 and his Los Angeles Kings (20-24, .455...with the sweet purple/yellow sweaters!).  The Kings are HEAVILY dependent on Teemu Selanne, who finished with 119 points, and next up is Geoff Sanderson with 61.  The Defense is led by slick-skating Glen Wesley and a mix of Jyrki Lumme and Luke Richardson.  Terreri sits between the pipes.

    Scribe is a great player, and in fact has beaten AJ in a Classic finals (CHI vs QUE) 4-1 in 2020.  However, this Sharks team is dialed in on both ends of the ice and I just can't see them losing in a 7 game series.  Maybe the Kings grab a close one, but that mounting pressure that AJ brings is too much to overcome.  

    PREDICTION: SJS in 5
     
    2. Corbettkb (DAL) - 225
    7. Sebe82 (EDM) + 225
     
    Season Series (2-2 tied)

    The #2 seed Dallas Stars (31-13, .705) and their blinding white jerseys have put together their best CDL season in franchise history.  4.11 GF/G with 3.00 GA/G are both franchise records, leading to a 1.11 GDIF.  The roster is terrifying with Mike Gartner, Luc Robitaille and Dallas Drake as the starting forward lineup with big Steve Smith and Doug Lidster on defense.  More impressive is the use of Jon Casey in net.  The Stars goalie put up a stellar 2.93 GAA (6th all-time) with a .717 save % (8th all-time).  @corbettkb has used his manual goalie skills to quel any fears of a "weak" goalie in net.  The Stars also set the all-time record for fewest checks against at 23.5!  This a well-deserved #2 seed that is poised to make a deep run in the playoffs with a potent offense and tight defense.

    BRING ON THE TRAPON!  @Sebe_The_Legend and his Edmonton Oilers (23-21, .523) love to grind things down to an uncomfortable halt.  They don't mind letting their opponents hang in the zone (they have the highest AZA), but reduce shots to low-scoring chances that Patrick Roy can gobble up.  In fact, Roy led the league in save % with a ridiculous .761 (2nd all time).  Helping out Roy on defense is Dave Ellett (10th in checks F this season) and Patrice Brisebois.  The forwards are led by the Great One, #99 Wayne Gretzky.  Gretz has been a defensive monster this season for the Oilers, 2nd in checks next to Ellett.  He's also the primary playmaker with 53 assists to mainly Jimmy Carson and a mixture of Tony Amonte/Cam Neely (depends on how Sebe is feeling his players are performing).  

    These guys split their season series with a lot of close games (including a ridiculous 1-0 OT win by the Stars).  I have been very impressed with both of these teams this season and when either team is ON they can beat anybody.  Now clearly the Stars are the #2 seed and favorite, but the question is can they generate enough offense against this tight Edmonton team.  Composure will be key for both these guys as grinding out a 7 game series can be mentally fatiguing.  This is one matchup I can't wait to watch, and I think each game will be close!  
     
    PREDICTION: DAL in 6
     
    3. Indio (HAM) - 110
    6. Tickenest (HEL) +125
     
    Season Series (4-0 HAM, 2 OT)

    We have a couple of new faces in the 3-6 matchup this season!  @INDIO and the Hamilton Tigers (31-13, .705) take the #3 seed in an impressive sophomore season in CDL A!  Indio has been steadily improving his play over the last few years and it has culminated into the recent Classic A title and now a favorite in the first round of CDL 05.  Offense is the name of the game as Indio likes to play fast and loose!  Steve Yzerman leads this Tigers team with 135 points, with Kamensky and Kvartalnov on his sides.  We'll see some Owen Nolan as well if those two aren't playing up to Indio's liking.  The Tigers put up 4.55 goals/game, and that is the first team to go above 4.5 outside of AJ/Raph/Seth/Schmidt (aka "the big 4").  The defense also features Paul Coffey who is known for more offense, and Smehlik/Konstantov share duties as the #2.  Mike Richter is letting up 3.94 GAA with a .668 save %.  So at the end, Indio and the Tigers will look to outscore you by a goal.  Speaking of which, he led the league with 18 one-goal wins (thanks to these @Tickenestcharts!).

    I feel like @Tickenest and the Helsingin Jokerit (28-18, .591) are the most underrated team this season and is my darkhorse to make a run in the playoffs.  Tick's game has improved tremendously as he's averaging 4.48 goals/game this season, up from 3.55 last season and keeping a 3.57 GA/G vs 4.23 last season!  So monster improvement on both sides of the ice in just one season.  In addition, the Jokerit like to whip the puck around the ice, usually leading the league in passing attempts and even more importantly passing completion percentage!  Speaking of leading the league, Helsingin finished with a faceoff win percentage of 62.1%, the best ever in CDL A history!  The Jokerit have NHL'94 superstar Jeremey Roenick at center, who led the league in goals and finished 3rd all-time in goals/game.  Accompanying JR are Stephan LeBeau and Pelle Eklund, who finished with 106 and 99 points, respectively.  There were some questions going into the season if Kevin Hatcher and Marty McSorley would be too big and slow on defense, but they are helping Sean Burke keep a 3.47 GAA.  Burke's save percentage is a little concerning at .652, but the Jokerit have held opponents back by letting in only 10.3 shots per game.  Hatcher and McSorley finished 8th and 10th in checks this season and JR was #1, which led the Jokers to be 3rd in checks/game.  

    Hamilton won all 4 matchups this season vs Helsingin, including two overtime victories, so it looks like Hamilton has the advantage in this series.  All signs point to them being the odds on favorite, but I'll go out on a limb and predict a playoff upset here as I like the way Tickenest has been playing recently.  

    PREDICTION: HEL in 7
     
    4. kingraph (ANH) - 110
    5. Uncle Seth (CAR) +100

    The defending champion Anaheim Ducks (29-15, .659) end up as the #4 seed this season, their lowest seed in CDL so far.  This team has the lowest goals for/game in franchise history at 4.43, but a stingy 2.89 goals against, for a GDIF of 1.55.  That GDIF ends up being 2nd in the league after the #1 seeded Sharks.  @kingraph built this team for defense, starting with Ed Belfour in net who finished with a .743 save % (3rd all-time) and 2.80 GAA (4th all-time).  Helping out the Eagle are two talented heavy defensemen in Al Iafrate and Zarley Zalapski.  They fit kingraph's aggressive style of defense and finished 1st and 3rd in checking for defensemen this season, and 2nd in total checks/game in league history.  While the defense is strong, the offense took some time to figure out.  Led by speedster Russ Courtnall, the Ducks finished 4th in goals this season.  Evgeny Davydov and Joe Nieuwendyk try to keep up with Russ, but they are not traditional puck handlers.  Each has a 4shp and varying skills, but stick handling ain't one of 'em!  The Ducks will rely on individual creativity to generate offense, and that can be seen by their low assists this season.

    A two time CDL champion, @Uncle Seth finds himself in the 5th seed this year, a strange place to land.  The Minnesota Wild (28-16, .636) had the 5th best record, but nobody in their right mind would call them an underdog.  The Wild finished with a Gdif of 1.3, 3rd in the league.  On top of that, this entire season was an experiment for Coach Uncle Seth as all 10 of his skaters have participated in the games.  It's hard to figure out what kind of lineup you'll see, and in true Seth fashion you can expect to see any and all of them at any given time.  He's notoriously known for mixing things up until he finds something that works.  If I had to guess, you're going to see a healthy dose of Gary Roberts and Robert Reichel, the Calgary stars, and the 3rd forward will likely be swapping around between Zhamnov, Claude...hell even Kozlov or Thomas!  On Defense Doug Wilson and Darius Kasparitis are the mainstays, but you may see Rob Ramage called in if one of those two are a step off.  In the pipes is Ron Hextall, who finished with a low 3.03 GAA (10th all time) and .700 save %.  

    When Seth is locked in, there may not be a scarier person to face in a game.  A dominant champion in season 1 and 3, Seth was knocked out in the first round last year.  His stats show a decline from where was in the first 3 seasons, but if you take him lightly you'll pay dearly.  kingraph has had the better of Seth recently, going 12-1 in their last 13 CDL regular season and playoff meetings.  However, you'd have to be crazy not to expect anything but a 7 game, life-draining match to the death when these two meet.  A first round matchup of the "big 3" (AJ/Seth/Raph have been the only 3 to play in all 4 CDL finals) is a tough draw for both!

    Season Series (4-0 ANH)

    PREDICTION: ANH in 7

    ODDS TO WIN THE CUP (based on projected playoff path)

    • AngryJay93 (SJS) +380
    • kingraph (ANH) +500
    • Uncle Seth (MIN) + 625
    • Corbettkb (DAL) + 1000
    • Indio (HAM) +1500
    • Tickenest (HEL) + 1800
    • Sebe (EDM) +4000
    • Scribe (LAK) +5000
    • Love 2
    • Like 1

  6. Hacking Project - Add Back Blood In '94 (Work In Progress)

    in Sega Hacking Projects

    Posted

    13 hours ago, kingraph said:
    • I assume the blood animation is a separate graphic and not an entirely new set of sprites (to be confirmed)
    • Find the blood animation tiles in NHLPA'93 (I think I have this already...shares the crowd palette)

    As I suspected, the blood is a separate tile sequence that is on top of the sprite.  I found a few blood tiles and changed them to 1,2,3.  I think this will be helpful once I can identify which tile numbers they are in reference to the sprites.  The trace will be easier to identify (I think). 

    Original

    regular_4x.gif

    Tiles Altered

    full tiles_4x.gif

    Another Example (I've since found the first tiles)

    home_blood.gif

     

     

    I've gotten about 19 tiles so far...I have to see all the blood animations.  I think there are two more from fighting...left and right.

    • Like 3

  7. Hacking Project - Add Back Blood In '94 (Work In Progress)

    in Sega Hacking Projects

    Posted

    I have been thinking about this for a while and decided I should at least start this hack and post on the forums for documentation/progress.

    My initial thought process is as follows:

    • I assume the blood animation is a separate graphic and not an entirely new set of sprites (CONFIRMED)
    • Find the blood animation tiles in NHLPA'93 (DONE, most likely)
    • Trace and reverse engineer the code on a blood injury in '93 (current phase)
    • Bring those elements into '94

    I think the first two bullets I will confirm and get done rather quickly, but the hard work will be understanding and isolating the code in '93.  My starting assumption will be that when an injury for game is triggered, the blood animation sequence is called and overlayed by the sprites head.  Who knows if that's right.  

    I'll continue to post updates here as I work on this project.

    • Wow 1

  9. HOW TO: "Decompress" Graphics in Sega Genesis

    in How-To & Reference

    Posted

    49 minutes ago, dangler said:

    @kingraphVery interesting post! Do you know if this same logic can be applied when looking at SNES graphics? Is SNES also broken into tiles with 8x8 pixels and do we know if SNES also has 4 different palettes of 16 colors? Are SNES logos also 6 X 6 tiles?

    The graphics in SNES are way more advanced than Sega, and I can't even comment on how it actually works as I haven't done much SNES hacking.  This article summarizes the graphic differences nicely: nicely: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_console_palettes

    So tiles are 8x8, but the palettes are more complex (see article).  As far as logos, I venture to guess they are 7x7 solely based on the screenshots I've taken of logos (56x56 pixels)

    The big issue with SNES is that the graphics are actually compressed.  Meaning, you won't find any graphics if you open up a SNES '94 ROM in Tile Molester.  There is some algorithm that the SNES applies to translate pieces of code into the graphics we see.  Even more difficult, those compression routines are unique to each game (or my understanding is some games have similar compression routines), so it's not like a piece of software exists that decompresses ALL SNES graphics for you to edit, and then recompress to the ROM.  You basically have to figure out the routine for '94 yourself.  My understanding is it's complicated too.  And that's why we haven't had any progress on SNES graphic hacks. 

    Recently, on the '94 Discord Server (#rom-hacking), and I think you've seen this, there was a Microsoft Direct X developer who gave some good advice on how to possibly think about this differently for SNES (thanks for sharing @INDIO)

    "I haven't tried to edit logos yet. I had some notes and observations when doing stuff for the player profile photos that might help

    For editing player profile photos, I went with a "path of least resistance". I didn't try to reverse-engineer the whole decompression mechanism. Instead I put full decompressed images into the ROM and changed the decompress into a very dumb copy. I have a thing of "work smarter not harder" given I want only a certain end result, doesn't matter how elegant it is or whether it requires ROM expansion. For purposes of this project I treat ROM expansion as free. If you have the same priorities, you might want to do the same thing.

    Why do the same thing? Because the decompression code is organized weirdly and is complicated. Although I didn't strictly have to I looked at it out of curiosity for profile images. And team logos use the same thing, from what I can tell. But if you still want to know about it:

    I disassembled most of the decompression code, added some labels, factored out some loops. See here: https://github.com/clandrew/nhl94e/blob/main/docs/rough/DecompressProfileMain.asm

    There is a bunch of code with data sprinkled in. That data is jump tables. Each element of the jump tables in general is short offset.
    The real meat of the decompression is in this function: DecompressFB30(). To get started you would probably want to set a breakpoint there at 0x80BBB3. That's a common path between profile images and team logos.

    General vibe is the compression optimizes for sequential series of like numbers. So like, if there's a sea of 99 0s, rather than store 0 repeatedly it will just store "99" "0" so to speak."

     

     

  10. CDL 05 - Official ROM

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Sauce said:

    Nice job @kingraph!

    I don't recall hearing of the scoreboard hack... how does it work?

    The original scoreboard uses the 2nd palette in the game (which is the same as crowd and banners). The 3rd and 4th palettes when the screen is active is the home and away team palettes for the sprites.  So I changed the palette for the 6 tiles that house the monsters to the 3rd and 4th palette.  And made sure the colors I picked would work. 

    For example, the eyes are the skate blade whites (except Minnesota home, where I needed a light green :) ). And the blue is the shadow blue, which is consistent for all teams.  The body colors are the shoulder and trim colors for the teams, which change and contain the most interesting team colors.  The black background is the boots/gloves (always black for all teams).  

     

    The pacman above remains on the 2nd palette, which doesn't change and will remain yellow.  

    • Like 1

  12. CDL 05 - Official ROM

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    CDL 05 Official ROM:CDL_season_05.bin

    • 24 Drafted Teams of 12 players!
    • Hot/Cold Reduced to "Warm/Cool".  Boosts are limited to +1, 0, -1 vs original ROM -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2
    • 1 minute penalties
    • NEW - 12 second Penalty Shot Time (reduced from 25)
    • Body Checks after whistle don't count
    • +/- stat added
    • Reduced time to switch to Manual Goalie
    • Slightly Increased Goalie Range
    • Boosted Goaltenders - All get +1 to Agility and Stick/Glove Ratings except Roy & Belfour
    • 288 Updated Player Cards!
    • All 12 player cards cycle on start menu!

     

    24 Unique Teams, including two new franchises - Milwaukee Admirals and the Windsor Spitfires!

    Teams.png

    Drafted by these handsome coaches:

    CDL_season_05_001.png

    Luc Robitaille makes his cover debut!

    CDL_season_05_002.png

    Our very own @danTML7returns to the announcing lineups!

    CDL_season_05_003.png

    A few more logos re-created pixel-by-pixel from NHL Rewind!  Seen here is Boston and Buffalo!

    CDL_season_05_005.png

    Scoreboard features Pac-Man, with Ghosts that change color based on the home (x2) and away (x1) team!

     

    CDL_season_05_004.png

    Finally, ESPN is our 3 Stars Sponsor!

    CDL_season_05_00444.png

    • Love 3
    • Like 1

  13. IHL Hockey (Fantasy ROM)

    in Genesis Roms

    Posted

    5 hours ago, DeterminedApathy said:

    Haha, thanks. I was really pleased with how the color portraits turned out.

     

    THIS!  My jaw fell on the floor when I saw this.  Was it just a matter of changing the palette from b/w to a new set of 8 colors?  I'm curious if it had any other affects in the ROM?

     

    Posting a quick screencap to show the awesomeness:

     

    IHL Hockey_000.png

     

    Also, the music is :red_heart:

    • Like 2

  15. CDL 05 - Lines

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Time to start setting your lines.  This basic format works for most, but if you want to set particular replacements, you can if you understand how that works - How It Works

    Otherwise, I assume you want a 3rd defensemen to come in for either LD/RD who gets a penalty/gets injured.  The 4th only comes in as necessary.  I also assume your extra attacker will be your 4th F if an injury occurs.  On a penalty, I'll keep your starters on unless otherwise indicated. 

    IF YOU KNOW OF A JERSEY NUMBER CONFLICT - you can also indicate it below.  Otherwise I will bump up the lesser known players up/down one.  If you have two starters with the same number, I'll look for a previous NHL number.  

     

    Team Name: Anaheim Ducks

    LD: Al Iafrate
    RD: Kevin Lowe
    LW: Russ Courtnall
    C: Pierre Turgeon
    RW: Joe Niewendyk
    X: Jari Kurri

    3rd D: Mikhail Tatarinov

    G: Ed Belfour

  17. Finding Tiles the EASY way?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    15 hours ago, AdamCatalyst said:

    Did you ever figure this out? I’m stuck on the exact same thing, trying to track down a few sprites that elude my eyes when I review the whole binary. 

    I know this isn't the "EASY" way as this thread is asking, but the way I find particular tiles on images is using rows of hex tiles like these examples:

    hex tiles - 1 x 16.png (1 x 16 one row)

    hex tiles - 16 x 16.png (16 x 16)

    To replace graphic images in Tile Molester.  Then load the game up and see if I found the correct tiles.  Colors can still be tricky, which is why my examples have multiple different colors for the tiles. 

    Here's something I did back when looking at Mutant League Hockey as an example:

     

    mlhexample.png

    Hope that helps somewhat.

    • Love 1
    • Thanks 1

  18. NHL94 2022 ROM by The Sauce

    in Genesis Roms

    Posted

    18 hours ago, George said:

    Is it possible at all to add season mode to NHL94? Like maybe use the code from NHL95 and port it to NHL94? I guess ASM knowledge is mandatory and it's probably a lot of work but once it's done it's done forever.

    That's a crap ton of work that will likely never happen unless there was a team paid to do so.  I'd also love to see all those season modes, stats, trade players, create players, 2v2, etc features in '95 be a part of the '94 gameplay. 

  19. Retroarch: New Cores (Mar'22)

    in Retroarch

    Posted

    Attached here are the new modified cores to allow netplay between a Mac and a PC. Nothing else is changed in the core, so they should work just like the old ones, but with this added function. There is a separate PC and Mac core.

    Follow the instructions below:

     

    For PC: Download: genesis_plus_gx_libretro.dll. Copy this file into your RetroArch-1.10-Win64/cores folder, and choose "Replace" when asked. No other change is needed.

     

    For Mac: Download: genesis_plus_gx_libretro.dylib. Open a Finder window, navigate to your Documents folder, open the RetroArch folder, then the cores folder, and copy this file into there. Choose "Replace" when asked. No other change is needed.

     

    I will update the packages on nhl94online.com tomorrow with the new core (3/16/22). Also please check the pinned messages in the help channel and turn off the "Pause Content" settings as described in the pinned post. Check before you play someone to make sure you both have the new core.

    • Thanks 1
    • Like 1

  24. Custom NHL'94 Player Attribute & Overall Calculation Spreadsheet

    in Player Ratings

    Posted

    1 hour ago, RuThaN said:

    Hmm, i checked PC Dos stats, it seems different, these are just in:

    Speed
    Agility
    Weight
    ShotPower
    Checking
    Stick
    Handling
    Accuracy
    Passing
    OFF. Awarenewss
    Def Awarenews
    Aggressiveness
    Endurance
    Shoot/Passbias
    FaceOffs

      Style 0-100 values, there is not overall rating. It seems different from SNES and Megadrive rating and seems to be made by some Calgary fan, because in top 20 players seems to be 9 Calgary players: )

      So someone did not make stats for Dos version, i can make it happen, i already started with best players.

      Im sure than someone could grep stats from data files and convert Hex values by some coding, but it could be done by hand in day or two..

    I'm pinging @Koppewho is our resident DOS roster updater!  Do you have any insights into the 95 DOS player attributes/spreadsheet?

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